The present invention relates to a terminal supporting device for supporting a terminal of a cable by a bracket.
For example, the configuration disclosed in JP 4212832 B2 is known as a device that supports a terminal of a cable such as a control cable for vehicle. As shown in FIG. 9, this terminal supporting device 100 comprises a socket member 102 in which a cable 101 is inserted, a cylindrical nut member 103 set to a male screw 102a of the socket member 102 so as to move back and forth relative to the socket member 102 by a screw, and a stopper 104 which is interposed between a flange portion 102b of the socket member 102 and an end portion 103a of the cylindrical nut member 103 detachably. The cylindrical nut member 103 rotates in a tightening direction under the biasing force of a coil spring 105.
When used, the cylindrical nut member 103 is rotated in a loosening direction against the biasing force of the coil spring 105, and the stopper 104 is interposed between the flange portion 102b of the socket member 102 and the cylindrical nut member 103 to fix the terminal supporting device 100 temporarily. Then, by attaching the terminal supporting device 100, which is temporarily fixed, on a notch 111 formed on an upper edge of the bracket 110 from above, the contact between the cylindrical nut member 103 and the stopper 104 is released by pushing up the stopper 104 and the rim portion of the notch 111 is sandwiched between the cylindrical nut member 103 and the flange portion 102b. After that, by pushing down the stopper 104, a fitting portion 104a of the stopper 104 is fitted between a pair of horned portions 102c, 102c provided on the socket member 102, and a pawl provided on the lower end portion of a pair of leg portions 104b, 104b of the stopper 104 is engaged with an engaging projection provided on the socket member 102. Thereby, a lock portion 106 of the stopper 104 is engaged with an engaging portion 107 of the cylindrical nut member 103.
The above conventional terminal supporting device is configured such that the looseness of the cylindrical nut member 103 attached to the bracket 10 is prevented, by engaging the stopper 104 with the socket member 102 and the cylindrical nut member 103. Thus, there is no need of strengthening the biasing force of the coil spring 105, and the temporary fixation of the stopper 104 can be achieved easily at the operation site. However, there is a problem that the structure or operation for preventing the looseness of the cylindrical nut member 103 becomes complicated.
On the other hand, when the biasing force of the coil spring 105 is strengthened in order to dispense with means for preventing the looseness of the cylindrical nut member 103, the temporary fixation of the stopper 104 becomes difficult. Therefore, it is desired to simplify the structure or workability of the stopper 104 as much as possible (for example, JP 2002-122271 A).
However, in the case where the terminal supporting device 100 is configured to be attached to the bracket with preventing the rotation of the cylindrical nut member 103 in a loosening direction under the bias by strengthening the biasing force of the coil spring 105, the frictional force between the cylindrical nut member 103 and the stopper 104 is strong due to the bias in the state where the attachment of the terminal supporting device 100 to the bracket 110 is not performed yet. On the transportation of the terminal supporting device 100, the oscillation of the cylindrical nut member 103 in a rotating direction is caused by a vibration during the transportation and so on. The stopper 104 also oscillates by the transmission of the oscillation of the cylindrical nut member 103. Therefore, the stopper 104 might rise gradually and be detached, merely by interposing the stopper 104 between the socket member 102 and the cylindrical nut member 103. At this point, in prevention of the rotation of the cylindrical nut member 103 under the bias, the necessity of temporarily fixing the stopper 104 arises again at the operation site once the stopper 104 interposed between the socket member 102 and the cylindrical nut member 103 is detached. Therefore, some operators might be forced to perform a difficult operation due to the strong bias of the coil spring 105.